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Obituaries

Allen Sheppard | School staffer, 102

Allen Sheppard, 102, a former staff member at a Camden County school, died of complications from an infection on Nov. 14 at his home in Camden.

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Allen Sheppard, 102, a former staff member at a Camden County school, died of complications from an infection on Nov. 14 at his home in Camden.

"He only went to third grade," said a daughter, Irene Veal, "but he could read better than my mom, who graduated from high school. He taught himself."

A native of the Virginia shore, Mr. Sheppard moved to Southwest Philadelphia and worked in home construction.

In the 1950s, after their home was razed in an urban-renewal program, his daughter said, Mr. Sheppard moved the family to Camden and continued in construction.

In the 1960s, she said, he changed fields and retired at age 72 as head custodian at Camden County Vocational and Technical School in Pennsauken.

Besides his daughter, Mr. Sheppard is survived by daughter Iris, 15 grandchildren, and more than 20 great-grandchildren.

A funeral service was held Friday at the New Life Temple in Lansdowne, followed by burial in Harleigh Cemetery, Camden.